Could some of yall take of your Rocket colored glasses and admit Eddie Griffin is becoming worse, not better, as the season has gone along? Rudy T has done a terrible job in developing this so called "future superstar". All he's done for the past two months is hang around the three point line and jack up threes. Does Rudy T know that we don't need perimeter play but we need inside play? With Cat, Francis and Thomas doing there work from the perimeter off the dribble, it would be ideal if there was someone inside who do the dirty work. Why is Griffin playing scared? Can't he bang inside with the big boys? At the rate he's going, he'll be relegated to being the three point gunner off the bench three years from now. Griffin needs to have a post game. Shooting threes (at a low percentage by the way)ain't gonna get it done.
Please, Griffin is 19 years old, He is not going to be a high school super star in his rookie season, In Fact I was suprised and pleased to see him put up those 20 point games at the Start of the year. He has hit the rookie wall it looks like and last night seemed to be rock bottom, We dont even know if he is going to be a large part of this team next year anyways.
There's a difference between regressing and playing badly. Right now, he's playing badly. That doesn't mean he isn't learning. I wouldn't worry. (Though, I would pull him from the starting lineup.)
You have to take a couple of things in to consideration when talking about Eddie. Most rookies hit the "wall" Granted, Eddie didn't play that much at the beginning of the year so you can make an argument that he shouldn't be crashing just yet...however, remember Eddie came out as a freshman and only had one year of college hoops under his belt. This guy is only a year and change removed from playing high school games once or twice a week and not having to fly across the country or sit on a bus ride form New Jersey to Syracuse. I think he is tired.
Woo hoo! Lets blame it all on Rudy T!!!! I guess its Rudy's fault that Eddie is 19, has only 1 year of college ball under his belt, and is adjusting to the demands and lifestyle of the NBA.
Heh. Let's turn the clock back three months or so: http://bbs.clutchcity.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26629 Eddie Griffin should start the rest of the season, yes even over KT The fickle finger of fate (and the clutch bbs) is...interesting!
I don't think Eddie is regressing, I don't think he has hit the wall and I don't think he needs rest. When he had those 20 point games earlier, it was because his jumper was falling. I thought too much was made of it at the time. He was standing at the 3 point line and he was hot. He wasn't banging inside faking defenders out of their jock. Now, his jumper isn't as hot. I know he hit some midrange jumpers back when he was scoring a lot, but they were still jumpers. Jumpers come and jumpers go. Re: my opinion on why this offense will never be that good, so long as it relies so heavily on jump shots. I still see Eddie fighting for rebounds and running the floor hard (unlike our guards). I don't know that he has learned as much as he could have, though, since he so seldom gets anything offensively run for him down low. He still hangs out at the 3 point line most of the time. He has struggled getting his shot off inside, but I think the only way for him to learn and progress at that is to do a lot more of it. He needs to learn to use some fakes and such to keep from getting his shots from down low blocked so much. The only way I think he has regressed is if he has come to believe that a good power foward hangs out at the 3 point line and fires up jumpers.
everyone is right in this thread! -Rudy does need to allow Eddie to get some easier baskets than the 3. Part of that is from practice development and part of that is experimenting in the game. Eddie does not have a shot that he can go to when his three is not landing. this is a coaching problem, because we have seen flashes of the short bank shot and turn around jumper. we know it is there, so let's let him develop it in game situations--call his number. -Eddie said the right things about his wall. he thinks he needs to concentrate on rebounding to get into the game more. he is taking blame for it and that is a good thing. the coaches need to coach him though and I personally have not seen a tremendous mental growth or skillset improvement this year. I I give him B, but would expect an A by the end of the year. -the wall is primarily mental, not physical. ya, he is pretty physcially tired, but conditioning is there to get over this hump. it is just a matter of a mental adjustment. coaches need to work with him to shake it....he has committed to changing, now the coaches need to jump in.
I guess we can blame Rudy a little for not forcing Eddie to shoot closer to the basket, but I think its mainly Eddie's fault. I watched him warm up one game and all he shot was 3-pointers for thirty minutes. I think its safe to say he likes shooting the three. His shooting has been absolutely dreaful over the past couple weeks. He's shooting something like 35% from the field in the last month. And I don't really remember too many great defensive games he's had recently. I don't think there's any question that he has hit "the wall." And I'm not mad at him or anything, he's already impressed me more than enough. But I think some people are misguided when they blame Rudy for not playing him earlier, and then also those who say he should start next season when Mo returns. I don't think he's ready yet for a starting role, and probably won't be next season either.
I agree. Because of the Rocket's system, I believe that Eddie's main problem is that his game at this point is too centered around the three point shot. Apparently in the team's mind, that's all he can do on offense. It's frustrating to see when he has a good matchup down low and he's posting up, no one we pass him the ball. I also don't believe he's hit any wall. He is hustling and running the floor as well as anyone out there, and it's a shame he's not rewarded for his hustle down the court. They never pass to him in transistion. It all comes back to this aweful system they are running. It sucks, it's too jump shooting oriented. I guarentee with a better system, EG will start to improve, because they will be able to utilize him in more ways than being a three point shooter.
This thread is a joke!! Don't you realize that Rudy drafted Griffin, because he saw the next coming of Matt Bullard (who can rebound & block shots). Name one other 19 year old, who can hit the 3-pointer consistently every night. Its not like Rudy calls low post plays for him. Not like his teammates feed the ball inside to him (when he does call for it), his job is to throw up 3's. Glen Rice's job is to throw up 3's. Walt Williams job is to throw up 3's. TMorris's job is to throw up 3's. Cuttino's job is to throw up 3's (at any cost!!!), damn, everybodies job is to throw up 3's.......... Rudys game plan is throw up 3's, and groom all Forwards into the next Matt Bullard (or Robert Horry). We will live and die by the 3 pointer, the later applies this year.
Will...great post...true very true...If post 15-20 is bad, then maybe it is time to read the sports mags more on the crapper, watch espn more, watch nba.com, browse the net more and/or take some creative writing lessons.... -I did not know Bullard was a blocking machine!!! I am one of Bull's best fans, but he was not signed was not signed as a blocking guru....3 maybe, but not shot blocking -EG shoots the three so much in warmups because the coaches want him too and encourage him too. at 19, someone needs to step out there, pull EG aside and say, " EG let's try something different and try some turn around jumpers, some fadeaways, some posting up or something!"
i think eddie's poor offensive play is a combination of being tired and being in the starting lineup with kt. eddie isn't receiving the same amount of looks as he did when he was up front by himself. no i'm not saying that kenny is selfish and ignoring eddie. the best thing would be for walt to replace eddie in the starting lineup and eg be kenny's replacement off the bench. this would probably allow eddie more room in the offense and kenny deserves to remain the starter.
Montgo, I was being sarcastic about Bullard. The point was that Rudy drafts people that he can groom into Bullard (Horry) type of players, who's primary goal is to heave 3 pointers. Rebounding & Blocking was just an upgrade from a Bullard type of player, more like a Robert Horry type.
It's funny, but as a player, Rudy used to mix it up in the paint. The old Rocket's announcer, Art Eckman, even invented a shot he called the "muscle-lean" to describe many of Rudy's offensive forays. Does that sound like a perimeter play? Why is Rudy so enfatuated with this outside shooting? It's not just the new rules either. It used to be a counterpoint to Hakeem. Our guards rebound and our forwards shoot threes (well, Cuttino heaves a few himself).
